Mainstream Renewable Power to further drive Lekela Power platform

On Thursday, global renewable energy developer Mainstream Renewable Power revealed that it has signed $117.5 million equity investment from investors including the IFC.

The deal between Mainstream Renewable Power and the International Finance Corporation (IFC), which is subject to shareholder approval, will provide equity funding for the Lekela Power platform – a joint venture with the global pan-emerging market private equity firm Actis, the company highlighted in a statement.

The firm further underlined that the funding package will help Lekela Power meet its goal of constructing over 1,300MW of new power capacity needed in Africa by 2018, while also addressing the challenge of climate change.

Mainstream Renewable Power –powered by compound capital

The IFC African, Latin American and Caribbean Fund (ALAC) and the IFC Catalyst Fund, two funds managed by Sanlam and Ascension Investment Management, an IFC asset management company, will aid in accelerating the build-out of megawatts of wind and solar plants across Africa.

Eileen Fargis, Co-head, of the IFC African, Latin American and Caribbean Fund (ALAC), said: “The IFC ALAC Fund looks forward to working with Mainstream Renewable Power to support the growth of Africa’s power infrastructure on the continent, an important pre-requisite of economic and social development.”

Bertrand de la Borde, head of Africa infrastructure at IFC, added: “Renewable energy has enormous potential as a clean, reliable and affordable power source for Africa and we are delighted to help connect Mainstream with solar and wind investment opportunities across the continent through this partnership.”

The clean energy developer also stated that the agreement will enable Lekela Power to continue building its pipeline of wind and solar projects in Africa.

The platform plans to build four more wind farms in South Africa, two wind farms and a solar plant in Egypt, as well as wind farms in Senegal and Ghana.

Babalwa Bungane is a content creator/editor for ESI Africa - Clarion Events Africa. Babalwa has been writing for the publication for five years. She has a great interest in social media due to its advantage of disseminating content.